Transport Minister Simeon Brown unveils fleet of pothole monitoring vans

Transport Minister Simeon Brown unveiled a fleet of pothole monitoring vans, which will patrol New Zealand’s roads with advanced digital equipment looking for signs of wear and tear.

Brown said the fleet of five vans, formally known as “Consistent Condition Data Collection (CCDC) survey vans” will travel the country hoovering up data to monitor the state of our roads and work out when they need maintenance.

Brown said the Government will now require automated pavement condition inspections of all sealed roads at least every second year, while surveys of high-class roads will be undertaken annually.

One van will cover Auckland and Northland, another will cover the central North Island, while a third will cover the lower North Island and the top of the south, and a fourth will cover the rest of the South Island. There will also be a fifth van, whose remit is currently unclear.

“These vans will provide consistent, high quality surface condition data at a scale never seen in New Zealand before, replacing the inefficient and manual on-the-ground inspections currently happening in many locations across the country,” Brown said.